During this year's 29th finals of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity (WOŚP), as much as PLN 210.81 million was collected, Jerzy Owsiak, the head of the WOŚP, said. The collected funds will be allocated to the purchase of equipment for ENT, otolaryngology, and head diagnostics.

“Hey, Poles, be proud of yourselves. Hey, compatriots around the world," Owsiak said on Monday summing up the fundraising campaign.

The 29th Final of the WOŚP took place on January 31. It was originally scheduled to take place on January 10, but its date has been postponed by three weeks due to restrictions introduced by the Covid-19 epidemic. This year's edition of the WOŚP was also different due to the epidemic. The organizers resigned from mass events and concerts for the public and transferred most of the events to the Internet.

"Were we worried about how it would all turn out? Of course. We thought: will people feel like it, have time and energy, after a year when society in Poland got tired of all personal and professional difficulties," Owsiak said.

In this year's finals, 1,362 centers were registered, including as many as 79 foreign centers, incl. from: Great Britain, Sweden, Germany, the United States, Tanzania, Australia, Norway, France, Russia, Mexico, Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, Vietnam, as well as from the Polish Polar Station Hornsund.

On the streets of Polish cities, money was collected by approx. 120,000 volunteers who were equipped with masks, gloves, and disinfectants. This year, red hearts were not glued to donors, but they were distributed. As in previous years, numerous auctions were conducted on the Internet (this year there were over 200), the income of which was allocated to the WOŚP.

Owsiak informed that 65 percent of the funds collected this year come from online collections.

(PAP)